Four bell ringers -- AVON(1A With 68-Across, bell ringer)LADY(68A See 1-Across);CHURCHWARDEN(20A Bell ringer);PERCUSSIONIST(37A Bell ringer); and BICYCLERIDER(54A Bell ringer) -- are the inter-related entries of this back-to-work Monday crossword puzzle from Sarah Keller, who constructed the puzzle that appeared this past Labor Day .

Opening the week, Sunday’s church bells still ringing in the ears, along with the sermon from that fellow who loves to ORATE (9DA Speechify) -- “Lord,ISITI?” (66A);HERESY (49D Religious dissent);NOTREDame (4D);MICAH(63A Book after Jonah);RITE(35D Baptism or bar mitzvah); and an IDLE(5A Doing nothing)NERO(64A Emperor who reputedly fiddled while Rome burned).

Perhaps EROS (65A God of love) brought DICIER(34A Less certain) weekend activities with which to OBSESS(9D Dwell [on]), such as a DREAMBOAT (34D Heartthrob) crossing an OLDMAID(50A Kids’ game involving an unwanted card); or a ROUNDTRIP(10D Point A to point B) cut through with YESDEAR (24A Spouse’s meek agreement) on a HIKE(41A Go backpacking) to the mall.

Or was it sports -- SISboom bah (59D); cool-headTED(12D Slugger Williams);VIDA(29A Cy Young Award winner Blue);BOXER(16A Pugilist);ERNIE (52A With 28-Across, winner of golf’s 1997 U.S. Open)ELS(28A See 52-Across) that kept you in your CAVE(18A Grotto) or ESTATE(33A Home that may have a live-in butler) watching HBO(41D “Curb Your Enthusiasm” airer), or a rerun with “Bewitched” witchENDORA(47D).

lllustrations: 1 Carillon in cupola of Royal Palace in Amsterdam consists of thirty-seven bells cast in 1664 by François and Pieter Hemony. 2. Piscatorial Percussionist by artist James C Christensen.3. Margaret Hamilton as Miss Gulch in “The Wizard of Oz”. 4. Oldest bell of the peal of six at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is the della Rota ("of the wheel"). Cast sometime before 1354, it is one of the few archaic bells still in regular use in Europe.

The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.

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